This guide a personal configuration of Fedora 12. This page is to provide some common installation tips that people may find useful. Keep in mind this works for me, so take care in doing proper backups to critical files whenever trying something. This guide was simultaneously authored testing a AMD64 Desktop running both i386 (32-bit) Fedora and x86_64 (64-bit) Fedora. (The specific system(s) also dual boot with either Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7).

Fedora 12 is provided as either CD-ROM's or DVD-ROM's for installation. You can either download the multiple CD sets or single DVD for installation. The DVD-ROM disk is the recommended method of installation. Booting the DVD or booting from CD#1 will start the installer which will allow Fedora to be installed on your computer or for you to upgrade an existing Fedora on your machine. The following steps were done with the single DVD installation.

There are also "LiveCD's" which can be booted and will run a basic Fedora in memory while also providing a simpler method of installation (not as complete at the DVD or multi-CD method). The default LiveCD ships with Gnome (ex: F12-i686-Live.iso). There is a specific LiveCD that ships with KDE. Both provide an installer however they come with significantly less software than the DVD. Also they require more memory in order to be usable. The LiveCD may be useful for demonstration.

Note: To upgrade an existing Fedora installation you cannot use a Live disk.

Note: 32-Bit Architecture - If you are using an older 32-bit CPU such as Intel i586, Geode or VIA C3, Fedora 12 may not be supported for your system. More info

Boot from the DVD. If you choose to use a LiveCD please note that the following steps will differ.

NOTE: The Fedora Installer (anaconda) is very minimal and most configuration steps will need to be done post-installation.

I did a Custom Install of Fedora 12.

Network Setup
Fedora uses NetworkManager for automatically configuring the network for installation. Users will only be prompted to set their 'hostname' (e.g. 'mycomputer'). Setting network parameters must be done post install.

Root password
This is your "Administrator" or "Superuser" password that lets you access everything on your system. Pick a good password and remember it.

Partitioning

If you have an empty hard drive or wish to delete the entire contents of your drive, then let the installer automatically partition or remove everything and partition.

If you wish to dual-boot or save some contents on your drive, then select "Create custom layout".
I recommend at least 3 partitions: an 8-12GB / main partition, a 10+GB /home partition and a 1-2GB <swap> partition. The main partition is where your applications will be installed. The /home partition will hold all your personal data (make this as large as you can). The <swap> should be at least as large as your physical memory (if you wish to support things like ACPI hibernate).

NOTE (/boot): If you manually configure a /boot partition, make sure it is at least 300MB (bug)

Boot Loader

If you have a blank harddrive or wish Fedora to be your Primary Operating System, then leave the default options here. This also works for dual booting with other systems (ex: Windows).

If you wish to preserve Windows as your primary operating system, then install Grub on the / partition, NOT the MBR. To do this, select Change device on the Install boot loader screen and install to First sector of boot partition. I use Bootpart from Windows 2000/XP to load Linux. An alternative to Bootpart is the NT OS Loader + Linux mini-HOWTO (also Grub Win2K Howto). Vista users can use the Vista Boot Manager following the Port25 Vista Boot Manager Howto. I recommend this so you do not corrupt your Windows installation in a Dual-Boot environment. This does take more work, and the default option on the MBR will also work.

NOTE: Boot Failure The Fedora 12 Installer did NOT work correctly when installing grub to the first sector of boot partition. More Info

General Package Selection
The primary options for installation are the following. You can select these and skip individual package selection if you plan to install most of your software from online (via YUM). It is recommended you at least pick certain applications.

Office and Productivity - [Highly Recommended]

Software Development - [Highly Recommended / Required]

Web Server - [Optional (useful for web developers)]

Add Additional Software Repositories - [NOT Recommended at Install time]. You do have the option of adding helpful repositories during install. This will give access to MANY more applications than included on the CD's or DVD. However this requires a high-speed internet access that is detected by the Fedora Installer. This will also significantly increase the installation time.

If you select Customize now you will be taken to the Individual Package Selection. The Fedora installer will usually have most of the necessary defaults already selected. However, I will recommend adding KDE (K Desktop Environment) under Desktop Environments.

Install the selected packages and reboot.

For users who opted to install grub on the first sector of the / partition instead of the MBR, you will be required to follow one of the above guides on either setting up Windows XP or Windows Vista to boot Fedora.

For the first boot:

License - Accept any licenses for Fedora

Create User - Create at least 1 user account for yourself. Always use that account. DO NOT use root as your personal account. The root account will NOT be permitted to login into the graphical desktop.

Date and Time - Network Time Protocol - Enable this ONLY if you have an active working internet connection that is on (ex: broadband, T1, DSL). You do not need to check the time server every time the service starts.

Hardware Profile - Fedora uses smolt to provide basic non-intrusive information on your specific installation. While this may be helpful to Fedora developers, some may consider it a privacy issue. Please understand what information is being sent before you allow it to do so..

07 November 2007

Fedora, like all other Linux distributions, has a root user and has
individual users. The root is the "superuser", somewhat similar to
"Administrator" in Windows.

Use the personal account you created at First Boot for daily use root only for administration/configuration. To run as 'root' use su or sudo commands. However sudo requires setup. As root run:

echo 'loginname ALL=(ALL) ALL' >> /etc/sudoers
Where 'loginname' is your user account.
Use 'ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL' if you don't want to be prompted a password.
If you are prompted for a password with 'sudo' it is the user password, not root.

NOTE: Every command provided on this page will work if you remove sudo from the command. However this requires you must be logged in as 'root'. An alternative to using sudo is to use su to login as root, before executing a command.

17 November 2009

Fedora uses yum to install and update its software. When connected to the internet it will automatically determine application dependencies.

Fedora Repositories

Fedora typically has 2 repositories enabled by default: fedora (the same packages that come on any combination of the CD's or DVD's) and updates (updated packages, newer than fedora repository).

YUM Plugins

While yum has many plugins available. Fedora 12 and newer enable yum-presto which should try to download only updated portions of packages instead of the full package during updates. Additionally many users use the fastestmirror plugin which (typically) speeds up downloads by attempting to find faster sources. To install:

For applications that are against Fedora policies (MP3, DVD, MPEG, Binary Drivers, etc),
a third party repository should be used. The recommended repository for Fedora is: RPMFusion. For the purpose of this guide, (most) all needs are met by the RPMFusion repository, other requirements are stated.

Option 2: In Gnome, [Right-Click] on the Networking icon in the top left of the toolbar.
Select Edit Connections....
Select System eth0 and click Edit...
Check Connect automatically and click Apply.
Enter 'root' password when prompted.

09 June 2009

Fedora ships with a limited set of media player for both audio and video. For audio please read the MP3 player notes. For video and other multimedia (DVD, etc.) we will also be making use of a 3rd party repository: RPMFusion. Make sure to have the RPMFusion repositories configured before executing the following. Note that many "dependancies" in libraries, plugins and codecs are shared between these applications and also the MP3 player applications.

The most popular media players (in order) are: MPlayer, Xine and
VLC. Each has its own strengths. Install whichever you prefer although
the first 2 are recommended.

MPlayer - MPlayer comes in a command line only interface (mplayer)
or skinable GUI and it also has a powerful encoding tool MEncoder (also
great for ripping or compressing audio/video). Additionally there is a
highly functional web plugin allowing for many popular formats in
Firefox/Mozilla (WMV, QuickTime, etc.).

Binary Codecs
- The MPlayer projects maintains a package full of binary codecs for
which no directly open source option exists, some of these files
include Windows DLL's. These are shared by both Xine and MPlayer. NOTE: There is significant variation depending on your architecture (i386, x86_64, ppc). This step is really only beneficial to 32bit i386 users.

DVD Playback - Due to non-technical reasons, the libdvdcss package currently exists in the Livna repository. Either use the Livna repository for this single package, or manually download and install it:

With OpenJDK installed, Java application and Web applets should
automatically work. Unfortunately some applets may not run properly and
the OpenJDK might have some limitations. Majority of user should find OpenJDK
perfect for everyday use.

Using Sun Java Instead

If you require Sun Java or if OpenJDK does not work properly, you
can download Sun Java and use it in Fedora.

NOTE: The above uses the English version: enu. To see which languages are supported by Adobe's YUM repository, run the following command:

[mirandam@charon Download]$ yum list AdobeReader\*

Other languages are installed similar to english for example: AdobeReader_fra, if you are unsure which package is correct, run:yum info AdobeReader_fra for more information. Otherwise install manually as described below. (Note: 64-bit users are recommended to use yum to resolve all the 32-bit i386 dependancies.)

The version of Adobe Acrobat Reader currently is 9.X for English and the version and
download size may vary depending on your language. Not all
languages are supported under Linux or may not have updated versions.

NOTE: Due to recent security issues with Adobe Acrobat, if you choose to use Acrobat Reader, it is STRONGLY RECOMMENDED to keep updated with yum.

If 'writable' the location must be writable in Linux first. Additionally permissions must match (for example: drwxrw-rw-).

If home data (all personal files under /home/username) is to be accessible,
then set 'browseable = yes' under [homes] (~line 250). This configuration file is very descriptive, read through it to get more ideas or information.

3. Add Users

To access shares, you must be a valid user. Add valid users AND passwords using the smbpasswd command.

This login name WILL be the login name and password you use from Windows to access your
Linux computer. The password does NOT need to match your Linux password.

To allow Samba access to work through the firewall you must set 'Samba' as a 'Trusted Service' and hit 'Apply'. Alternatively if you are only using the shell and do not have access to a graphical X-server, you can run:

[mirandam@charon ~]$ sudo system-config-firewall-tui

To allow Samba access to work through the firewall, use <Tab> to go to Customize. In the Trusted Services: scroll down to Samba, hit <Space> and use <Tab> again to go to Close, then finally to OK.

SELinux

SELinux has significant control over restricting different parts of Samba. Run system-config-selinux. Please read lines #23 - #51 in /etc/samba/smb.conf for a better explanation. Alternatively, you can run:

[mirandam@charon ~]$ system-config-selinux

Go to Boolean and type 'samba' in the Filter (without quotes).

For any changes made above to the SELinux settings or smb.conf,
it is recommended to restart Samba.

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